Stone Cold Steve Austin Discusses Problems with Current Talent Today

[Captain Charisma]

“Stone Cold†Steve Austin discussed the young wrestlers of today in a guest column for Fighting Spirit Magazine.
“Today’s guys are very impressionable, and don’t really call it in the ring anymore. Some of the guys don’t know whether to s–t or wind their watch; when they get in the ring, they have some basics, but they’ve always been told exactly what to do before they go out there. Back in the day, we were calling it all in the ring; we didn’t have anything to be nervous about, because we didn’t have to remember anything. All I had to do was listen to a hellacious worker like Billy Joe Travis or Jimmy Jack Funk, trusting them to help lead me through it.


The guys today are on a big stage, and none bigger than WWE. It’s up to the promotion to bring these cats in light, establish them, and help them get over. You can’t just bring in someone new and expect them to work a Wrestlemania caliber match right away. If you give someone a monster push right off the bat, but don’t give them the base knowledge, it makes no sense to wonder why they s–t the bed. These kids are exposed after a few weeks of TV, because they don’t have the experience of what to do in that situation. The more knowledge you have, the better chance you have of being successful.

What do you think?

 

[Rated R Superstar]

Almost seems like he thinks WWE should bring guys in as jobbers and push them up at a steady pace. I agree if that's what he's basically getting at. I mean look at Shield, they came in red hot, but look at them now, they have no real direction and just attack people at random. I understand it was for a great storyline, and it made quite the impact, but they just aren't making as big of an impact now.

 

[Chris Dresdon]

I think he hit the nail on the head. I doubt there's never been a match that he had some semblance of what's going to happen before he went out there, but he's not really saying he called on the fly every night for his entire career. It's a shame Stone Cold never got into managing someone, someone could benefit a lot from having him as their mouthpiece or giving them advice in that role. General Manager, developmental trainer, road agent, any of these roles for him would benefit the talent the same. But he's comfortable in what he's doing outside of WWE, so little gems like this here and there will have to do and I think are more than enough. Sadly I think it'll fall on deaf ears more than it'll resonate.

 

[Chris]

Almost seems like he thinks WWE should bring guys in as jobbers and push them up at a steady pace. I agree if that's what he's basically getting at. I mean look at Shield, they came in red hot, but look at them now, they have no real direction and just attack people at random. I understand it was for a great storyline, and it made quite the impact, but they just aren't making as big of an impact now.

They're not attacking people at random at all, they're targeting Cena, Sheamus, & Ryback and it will almost definitely lead to a 6-man tag match at Elimination Chamber. Attacking the three biggest stars is an impact if I've ever seen one.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

They're not attacking people at random at all, they're targeting Cena, Sheamus, & Ryback and it will almost definitely lead to a 6-man tag match at Elimination Chamber. Attacking the three biggest stars is an impact if I've ever seen one.

Haven't they also been attacking Orton also?

 

[Deezy]

Austin was basically saying they need territories.

 

[John McHenry]

Austin was basically saying they need territories.

True.

You know you think WWE could afford to do that. I'm not saying make it an NXT but they could buy up some some in different regions. I mean they could have NXT OVW one to the mid north mid south and Cally. don't try and make them too big every once and awhile transfer guys.

 

[Deezy]

True.

You know you think WWE could afford to do that. I'm not saying make it an NXT but they could buy up some some in different regions. I mean they could have NXT OVW one to the mid north mid south and Cally. don't try and make them too big every once and awhile transfer guys.

They have FCW and look at indie promotions, the biggest problem with it is, they are stuck in the same places what works one place may not work in others.

 

[The Cork]

All I got from this was "things were better in the good old days".

 

[Troy]

WWE have looked at setting up some foreign territories in the past, I remember a couple of years ago there was going to be one in the UK but that was cancelled late in the process. WWE do struggle due to the fact that there are so few places to scout talent from these days. Indy wrestling isn't as big as it used to be and wrestlers aren't travelling as much as they used to before they are being picked up by WWE.

I think it has been discussed here before about the idea of WWE hiring a guy and then sending them to Japan and Mexico for a bit just to learn some different styles for six months to broaden their range. It would be good if WWE set up partnerships with international organisations like they used to. If a guy wasn't really getting over and was barely getting any tv time, lets say Ted DiBiase, WWE could then ship him off to Japan for six months to freshen him up rather than releasing him.

 

[Mick Donalds]

The loss of the territories has really hurt the business, in some ways. In the territory days, younger guys could work with older stars in their twilight years who would help lead them through matches, put them over and basically mentor them. They'd go from Stu Hart's western Canada territory to Verne Gagne's Minneapolis-northern Midwest to the Von Erich's Texas territories and figure out what worked in what regions. Japan and Europe played a big part as well, because most wrestlers never even saw a WWE ring until after they'd done a few tours in Japan and Germany.

The WWE definately needs to let some Hall of Famers set up some territories and then send their talent to them for finishing. It does seem like there is way too much restriction, ringwise, on what a guy can and can't do nowadays. Other than a finisher or set up, a guy should be able to use whatever the hell he likes, providing he's safe with his opponent, imo.

 

[The New F'n Show]

I like Troy's idea of giving them work in different areas in front of different crowds working different styles. This allows a guy to experiment and really find what works for him.